NBC Sports NHL analyst Pierre McGuire made his weekly appearance Thursday on Middays with MFB to talk about the struggling Bruins. To hear the interview, go to the MFB audio on demand page.

The Bruins lost in a shootout to the Oilers on Wednesday night, which was their fifth straight loss overall, and sixth in their last seven games. McGuire noted the loss to the struggling Oilers was a bad loss, and the pressure has been raised a great deal with the team as the trade deadline approaches.

“I am not going to change because I really like this team. I like major components of this team, but there were a few things last night,” McGuire said. “No. 1, they did all the changes they needed to change in order to try and be competitive in that game. Secondly, they had a terrible start, which doesn’t speak well to some of the commitment of some of the players on that team. And the third thing is they did go with their perceived best goalie and probably is their best goalie in Tuukka Rask and weren’t able to get the job done.

“That is a huge point in the standings. It’s a huge, huge point. If you look at the rest of the road trip — they are in St. Louis and they are in Chicago — two very difficult places to play. This has a chance to be 0-5 on the trip. That is not where you wanted to be, especially with their run through Alberta. This is going to be really interesting to watch the Bruins because I got to believe the pressure is just amped up unbelievable.”

With the way things are in the standings, currently sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, there is no wiggle room for the Bruins.

“They are up against it, no question,” said McGuire. “I think this is going to be, especially when you consider Cam Neely’s words to Kevin Paul DuPont. Those were strong words. Those were coming from ownership. Those were coming from a man that is fully vested in the team and helped put the team together. You have to think this is a real difficult situation for Peter Chiarelli and for the Bruins hierarchy to figure out because the cap wise they are in trouble. That is the reason why they traded Johnny Boychuk this year. Now some people could say revision is history.

“‘Hey, they should have kept Boychuk and just played it out at the end of the year, and why didn’t they keep Jarome Iginla and his 30 goals?’ There are going to be a lot of second guessers here. I still think the team is good enough to make the playoffs and have a run, but I do think they need to do something before they get to the trade deadline on March 2. What that is, I don’t know. I don’t know how they are going to pull it off.”

The Bruins opted against starting Malcolm Subban Wednesday night, further underscoring the importance placed on getting two points against the second-worst team in the NHL.

They still lost.

After coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the second period, the Bruins held even with the Oilers through the third period and overtime before losing in a 12-round shootout that saw Boston fail to score once. Tuukka Rask finally surrendered the shootout’s only goal to Martin Marincin on the 24th overall attempt.

The loss was Boston’s fifth straight (0-3-2) and sixth in the last seven games (1-4-2). The Bruins have two more games on their current road trip, as they’ll play the Blues Friday and the Blackhawks Sunday. Rask has now played in 24 of the Bruins’ last 25 games, so the Bruins, entering must-win mode each night, may face more tough decisions regarding whether to risk burning out their best player.

Here are four more things we learned Wednesday night:

REVAMPED POWER PLAY SCORES

Claude Julien hasn’t been afraid to tinker with his forward lines, and on Wednesday that extended to the power play.

When Andrew Ference went off for tripping Brad Marchand late in the first period, Julien sent out a unit that featured Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug at the points, with David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron up front and Loui Eriksson in front of the net. The group stayed out there for all 91 seconds of the power play until Eriksson tipped a Hamilton shot past Ben Scrivens. The goal was the group’s sixth shot on goal of the power play.

Kypreos said the motivation behind trading both players is to free up cap space for a potential addition this season or to have more space in the offseason when they have to re-sign a number of players.

“They still want to add a depth forward, a guy that can give them a bit of a presence, so what does that mean? They’ve got to still move some salary out and the name I’m hearing now is Dennis Seidenberg,” Kypreos said. “He’s been a great guy for them the last few years, really solidified himself there with Chara the last few years as a pair, but he still has $12 million to go on a contract, and he’s not that well. Something’s got to give, maybe they’ve got to move him out before they can move someone else.”

Kypreos went on to say that Eriksson’s name is “out there” in trade discussions as well.

Seidenberg, 33, is in the first year of a four-year, $16 million deal, while the 29-year-old Eriksson is signed through next season at a $4.25 million cap hit.

If this callup for Malcolm Subban is a “showcase,” it had better not have anything to do with this season.

Subban is a goaltending prospect, which means you can flip a coin as to whether he’ll be a Vezina winner or just another guy, but he’s a highly regarded prospect nonetheless. Tuukka Rask is signed at a very reasonable $7 million for six more years after this season and Subban will be NHL-ready before that. For a team that’s set at goaltender, he’s a great chip to have if they are so inclined to move him.

But not for a two-month rental. If the Bruins want teams to have some video of Subban in case they talk trade in the offseason, fine. Airplanes exist and scouts are allowed to watch AHL games, but sure. By all means. Let teams watch him play in an NHL game against the second-worst team in the NHL (and one of the nine that scores less than the Bruins).

We’ve already outlined that the Bruins should absolutely not move anything of significant value at the trade deadline. They should take their chances as is in a weak Eastern Conference this postseason with the understanding that this has turned into a transition year. If guys start performing like their usual selves in April and May, they’re capable of beating any Eastern Conference team that doesn’t a C and an H on their sweaters, but they’re better off waiting until the cap goes up and they aren’t paying nearly $5 million in overages before they go out and start trading good young guys.

What would the Bruins even move Subban for this season? The Sabres reportedly asked for him in exchange for Chris Stewart, which they must have known was a ridiculous request. Stewart, an inconsistent right wing whose motivation probably hasn’t matched his talent over the last three years, might be the type of addition the Bruins should make at the deadline, but only because he realistically should only cost a mid-round pick and/or a mid-level prospect.

The team’s needs (if they go for it, which again, they probably shouldn’t) are a top-four defenseman, a potential first-line right wing and anything that can fix the fourth line. Subban maybe gets you one of those things in this seller’s market. Unless there’s an affordable player at one of those positions that’s controllable beyond this season, there’s really no point in using such a good piece now while the prices are high.

Playing Subban Wednesday could bring something the Bruins need as much as anything else: a win. You’d certainly hope the Bruins would be able to beat the Oilers on any night anyway, but the Bruins have been positively dreadful in front of Tuukka Rask the last four games. Playing a backup goaltender can be an effective means of getting a team to pay better attention defensively, and right now Subban might be better than Niklas Svedberg, who has been pulled from two of his last three starts.

Subban might not be a big part of the Bruins’ 2014-15 season, but he can impact future ones far more than he would by fetching a rental over the next couple months.

Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters in Edmonton Tuesday that defenseman Kevan Miller has been sent back to Boston and will not play the final three games of the team’s current road trip after re-injuring his right shoulder. Miller will undergo evaluation on the shoulder back in Boston.

Miller initially dislocated his shoulder in a fight in the Bruins’ Oct. 18 meeting with the Sabres and missed the next 13 games. He appeared to reinjure the shoulder in the second period of Monday’s game in Calgary and did not return.

The Bruins have yet to recall a defenseman, but Zach Trotman would be the most likely candidate. Trotman, a right shot, plays the same side as Miller and has already played 17 games for Boston this season.

Hockey Night in Canada NHL insider Elliotte Friedman joined Middays with MFB on Tuesday to discuss the Bruins recent struggles, the recall of goaltender Malcolm Subban, and if he could start as soon as Wednesday against Edmonton. To hear the interview, go to the MFB audio on demand page.

Subban, a second-year pro whom the B’s drafted in the first round of the 2012 draft, is coming off a stint in which he spent four games with the B’s as Tuukka Rask‘s backup while Niklas Svedberg was in Providence on a conditioning loan. Subban did not play during the stretch, but was officially recalled again Monday night.

It seems likely Subban will be in net Wednesday night when the Bruins take on the Oilers, as Edmonton has shown interest in the second-year goaltender.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, I don’t,” Friedman said. “When he gets called up and it is for this particular game, and you know [Claude] Julien, he doesn’t like to tell the media which goaltender is playing, this one is kind of odd. I have been told to expect him to play. I mean you never know until he actually shows up at the rink and skates out there as the starting goaltender, but there certainly is — and there was report last night that he was going to play and I believe that is true. Things can change, but I don’t believe in coincidences.

“We have been hearing all year that teams have been asking a bit about Malcolm Subban and I 100 percent believe that Buffalo, which is an organization that is really on goaltending, asked about him when they were talking about Chris Stewart and/or Drew Stafford, which was another player the Sabres kind of looked at and they were flat out rejected. Edmonton is another team that is going to be trying to change their goaltending mix this offseason.

“I think there is some degree of showcase here and I am sure Edmonton wants to see him against NHL shooters. I think it is very dangerous though to make a determination on a player based on one NHL start. There is no question that the Oilers want to see what they could be potentially trading for here.”